New Juventus boss Claudio Ranieri admits he was forced to pull the plug on his move to Manchester City because of dithering takeover plans.

The former Chelsea chief, 55, had been lined up to succeed Stuart Pearce once Thaksin Shinawatra completes his City takeover.

But the Italian, who quit as Parma manager last week, said: "There was a project to start from scratch at City.

"But they haven't yet been bought by a new owner and the weeks were passing by.

"The Juve negotiations came about in a surprising manner. It was like a bolt out of the blue as I didn't expect it.

"You simply just can't say 'No' to a club like Juventus. And I didn't!"